More Wordcrime (solving Crime With Linguistics)

By (author) John Olsson; By (author) Olsson, John
Description
Murders, cover-ups, infidelities, financial and political skulduggery: Dr. John Olsson has seen it all in his decades as one of the world’s top forensic linguists specialising in authorship. Working on cases that range from accusations of genocide to domestic disputes gone bad to allegations of university plagiarism, Olsson turns the same tools to the task – the power, depth and precision of forensic linguistics. Grammatical curiosities, lexical quirks, typographic stylings and patterns of use can all give away even the most hard-bitten and careful of criminals. And Olsson doesn’t stop there. From the giveaway compound nouns of heavy-handed police statements to the startling similarities displayed in what should be individual office accounts, officials in high places are given a run for their money too. Wordcrime is easy to commit – and hard to escape. More Wordcrime features a series of gripping cases involving murder, sexual assault, hate mail, suspicious death and criminal damage. In approachable and clear prose, Dr Olsson details how forensic linguistics helps the law beat criminals, and how even those in power can be held to account. This is fascinating reading for anyone interested in true crime, in modern, cutting-edge criminology and also where the study of language meets the law.
Table of contents
Part I: Toolkit 1. How to do forensic linguistics Part II Confronting authority 2. The linguistic tragedy of Hillsborough 3. A pink-handled kitchen devil knife and other fabrications 4. I didn’t have a gun 5. All quiet at the endz 6. Wars and words Part III. The authority to confront 7. Not a case of plagiarism 8. How old? What gender? 9. Alarm and distress 10. The prosecutor of the ICC v the president of Kenya 11. The Facebook murder 12. The sting Part IV: Life in forensic linguistics 13. Nothing is not important 14. When authorship is not authorship 15. A letter for Mrs Joe 16. The strange prose of Mrs Mottle 17. The love letters of Dr X 18. The invisible Bronski 19. Dissing the opposition 20. The concrete tomb 21. A particularly unpleasant man 22. The mysterious Mr Erdnase Index
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This is textual analysis as astute psychology, wise, rational and humane. Olsson’s account of his work makes for sometimes grim but compelling reading. Certainly a must-read for any crime writer looking for ideas.
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If those working in linguistics are ever worried about student shortages, they might want to encourage potential applicants to take a look at John Olsson''s intriguing book ... [It] features a series of compelling and sometimes horrifying cases.
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An excellent introduction to the field for the beginner or casual reader.
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The legalistic language throughout More [W]ordcrime gives a window into the world of law ... and the cases provide a fascinating overview of the role of authorship analysis in criminal cases.
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An enticing glimpse of a kaleidoscope of research and analytical possibility ... The joy of the book is that it transcends academia, the accessible style and bite-size case summaries give it the feel and pace of an engaging whodunnit that would be equally enjoyed by crime fiction fans. Personally, I hope the Wordcrime series will endure and eagerly anticipate the publication of a third volume.
Biographical note
John Olsson has operated a world-renowned forensic linguistics consultancy and training service at www.thetext.co.uk since 1996. He is an Adjunct Professor at Nebraska Wesleyan University, USA, where he teaches forensic linguistics online. He is also Visiting Professor of Forensic Linguistics at the International University of Novi Pazar in Serbia where he runs an annual summer school in Forensic Linguisti